Brown to spell out clean-up plans
Gordon Brown is due to announce measures to clean up Parliament.
He will spell out plans for urgent legislation to be passed within months to create an independent authority to regulate Parliament, removing MPs' powers to set their own pay and expenses.
He will also call for a debate on reform to the voting system for general elections.
But Downing Street played down reports that he will propose replacing first-past-the-post with the alternative vote, under which voters number candidates in order of preference.
Mr Brown will say that debate on electoral reform should form part of a wider discussion of changes to the way politics works in the wake of the expenses scandal, but is not expected to throw his weight behind any particular system.
The PM's spokesman said he was "open-minded" on the merits of electoral reform. He will insist that any change to voting in Westminster elections must first be approved by voters in a referendum.
Mr Brown's statement is also expected to include changes to strengthen the parliamentary committees which scrutinise the Government's work, and an indication that ministers are ready to press ahead with further House of Lords reform.
A Bill on Lords reform is unlikely before the election expected next spring, but it is thought that changes to reflect the Commons vote for an 80% or 100% elected upper house may be included in Labour's manifesto.
A separate Bill on the new independent regulator for Parliament is expected to be fast-tracked on to the statute book by the autumn. It had initially been thought the new watchdog might be added to the Constitutional Renewal Bill, which will take longer to get through Parliament.
The move is designed to get Mr Brown back on the front foot on one of the key political issues of the moment, and restore momentum following Labour's dismal showing in the council and European elections and the abortive backbench coup.
